England sent out a clear message to all Six Nation participants as they retain the Calcutta Cup and beat Scotland 38-18 in a physical contest at Twickenham.
After an entertaining game between Wales and Ireland earlier in the day, the pressure started to build on England’s shoulders to produce a convincing win against one of their oldest rivals.
The home side dominated from start to finish with a terrific performance from debutant Billy Twelvetrees and fly half Owen Farrell.
England started the game as the aggressors and were rewarded when Scotland conceded an early penalty, which was dispatched by fly half Farrell in the first five minutes giving them a 3-0 lead.
Despite their good start it was Scotland who got the first try of the game thanks to a debut try in the corner for Shaun Maitland, after a half pitch sprint from Stuart Hogg and a sleeping England defence.
Farrell continued his successful kicking game when he slotted over two penalties in the space of 5 minutes to give England the lead once again, making it 9-5 with 19 minutes played.
Greig Laidlow was able to amend his conversion miss earlier on in the game when he kicked over three more points for Scotland, bringing his side just one point behind the hosts.
England continued to pile on the pressure onto Scotland’s back line and it started to show after Joe Launchbury burst through the Scottish line was stopped and Ben Young’s supplied Chris Ashton with the killer ball, allowing the winger to stretch over the line for his 17th Test try. Farrell converted the try to give England a 16-8 lead.
Farrell continued ticking over England’s scoreboard with another successful pen in the 39th minute after a high tackle, but Scotland were given a glimmer of hope with a late penalty from Laidlow a minute later, finishing the half’s scoring on 19-11.
The tempo of the game increased even further in the second half as Twelvetrees scored his debut try thanks to his side spreading the ball and the Scottish defence out wide, opening a gap for Gloucester man to go over. Farrell added more cloud to Scotland’s day after he made it six from six kicks.
Controlling most of the games possession, England thought they had their third try of the game courtesy of Joe Launchbury but it was disallowed thanks from a high tackle by Tom Youngs.
The Twickenham fans didn’t have to wait much longer before they did see another try by the home side as Owen Farrell produced an impressive pass over the Scottish defence and out wide to a waiting Geoff Parling.
After the astonishing pass by Farrell, he wasn’t able to convert the try leaving it 31-11 to England with 55 minutes on the clock.
Scotland were pushed back into their own 22 once again but managed to turn over England possession and break with a Maitlands long kick, and another kick and chase from Hogg who went over in the corner. Laidlow went on to convert the try and close the gap to 31-18 with under 10 minutes left.
The physicality of the game continued and England managed to grab another try thanks to Danny Care as he managed to wriggle over the line just underneath the posts. Farrell converted once again just before the full time whistle, capping off a convincing victory for England.
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